AMERIKA'S CHECK BOOK!
Musk’s Lackeys Seize Control of Social Security Check System
Liam Archacki
Sat, February 1, 2025
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team have reportedly gained full access to the federal payment system, which contains sensitive personal information on millions of Americans, according to a report.
Access to the system—which is used to distribute Social Security checks, tax refunds, and other payments across the entire government—was granted by President Donald Trump’s freshly confirmed treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, three sources told The New York Times.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk and his lieutenants have rapidly seized control of key government workflows under the purported goal of trying to cut spending.
On Friday, news broke that Musk’s team had taken over key workflows in the Office of Personnel Management (the government’s human resources agency), shutting out senior officials in the process.
Musk’s request for access to the federal payment system was opposed by a career treasury official, David Lebryk, who was put on leave before abruptly retiring on Friday, the Times reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the situation.
In the early hours of Saturday, before the Times’ report, Musk suggested he was seeking to gain access to the system because of concerns about fraudulent payments.
“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups,” he wrote on X. “They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”
Musk did not provide any evidence for his claim.
Former officials at the treasury told the Times that individual federal agencies were responsible for ensuring that payments were above board. The agencies submit payments to the treasury, which in turn handles their disbursement.
During the 2023 fiscal year, the system paid out more than $5 trillion, according to the Times.
Musk’s efforts to gain access to the system had set off alarm bells for Democrat lawmakers, including Oregon senator Ron Wyden, who is on the Senate Finance Committee.
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” he wrote in a letter to Bessent on Friday. “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”
After it was reported that Musk had gained access to the system, Wyden took to social media to express his concerns.
“Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system,” he wrote on Bluesky. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it.”
Musk, a tech billionaire, is the owner of Tesla and X. After backing Trump’s campaign for president, Musk was named to lead the cost-cutting initiative within Trump’s new administration.
Sat, February 1, 2025
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team have reportedly gained full access to the federal payment system, which contains sensitive personal information on millions of Americans, according to a report.
Access to the system—which is used to distribute Social Security checks, tax refunds, and other payments across the entire government—was granted by President Donald Trump’s freshly confirmed treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, three sources told The New York Times.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk and his lieutenants have rapidly seized control of key government workflows under the purported goal of trying to cut spending.
On Friday, news broke that Musk’s team had taken over key workflows in the Office of Personnel Management (the government’s human resources agency), shutting out senior officials in the process.
Musk’s request for access to the federal payment system was opposed by a career treasury official, David Lebryk, who was put on leave before abruptly retiring on Friday, the Times reported.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the situation.
In the early hours of Saturday, before the Times’ report, Musk suggested he was seeking to gain access to the system because of concerns about fraudulent payments.
“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups,” he wrote on X. “They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”
Musk did not provide any evidence for his claim.
Former officials at the treasury told the Times that individual federal agencies were responsible for ensuring that payments were above board. The agencies submit payments to the treasury, which in turn handles their disbursement.
During the 2023 fiscal year, the system paid out more than $5 trillion, according to the Times.
Musk’s efforts to gain access to the system had set off alarm bells for Democrat lawmakers, including Oregon senator Ron Wyden, who is on the Senate Finance Committee.
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” he wrote in a letter to Bessent on Friday. “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”
After it was reported that Musk had gained access to the system, Wyden took to social media to express his concerns.
“Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system,” he wrote on Bluesky. “Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it.”
Musk, a tech billionaire, is the owner of Tesla and X. After backing Trump’s campaign for president, Musk was named to lead the cost-cutting initiative within Trump’s new administration.
Musk aides gain access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system
• FEB 1, 2025
Billionaire Elon Musk’s deputies have gained access to a sensitive Treasury Department system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments after the administration ousted a top career official at the department, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe government deliberations.
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approved access to the Treasury’s payments system for a team led by Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive working in concert with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” the people said.
David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades and had been the acting secretary before Bessent’s confirmation, had refused to turn over access to Musk’s surrogates, people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. Trump officials placed Lebryk on administrative leave, and then he announced his retirement Friday in an email to colleagues.
Spokespeople for Treasury and DOGE declined to comment.
The sensitive systems, run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, control the flow of more than $6 trillion annually. Tens of millions of people across the country rely on the systems. They are responsible for paying Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients, and tax refunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.
Typically, only a small group of career employees control the payment systems, and former officials have said it is extremely unusual for anyone connected to political appointees to access them.
Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration, which manages real estate. DOGE is now housed in a White House office formerly known as the U.S. Digital Service but now called the U.S. DOGE Service and has broad visibility into technology across the government.
The New York Times was first to report that Musk’s deputies had gained control of the systems.
Democrats have strongly criticized the idea of giving Musk surrogates access to the payment systems.
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said in a letter to Bessent on Friday. “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”
Senator warns of national security risks after Elon Musk's DOGE granted 'full access' to sensitive Treasury systems
A senior U.S. lawmaker says representatives of Elon Musk were granted "full access" to a U.S. Treasury payments system used to disperse trillions of dollars to Americans each year, and warned that Musk's access to the system poses a "national security risk."
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a post on Bluesky on Saturday that sources told his office Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk's team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, authorization to access the highly sensitive Treasury system on Friday. The authorization comes following a standoff earlier in the week, in which the Treasury's highest-ranking career official left the department following requests from Musk's team for access to the system.
“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” wrote Wyden in the post, referring to DOGE's access.
The New York Times also reported that Bessent granted DOGE access to the Treasury's payment system on Friday. One of the DOGE representatives granted access is said to be Tom Krause, the chief executive of Cloud Software Group, which owns Citrix and several other companies. Krause did not return TechCrunch's request for comment. A spokesperson for the Treasury did not comment when emailed Saturday.
This is the latest effort by Musk and his associates to take over the inner workings of the U.S. federal government following President Trump's return to office on January 20. Following his inauguration, Trump immediately ordered Musk to begin making widespread cuts to federal government spending.
The system run by the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service controls the disbursements of around $6 trillion in federal funds to American households, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, and payments to U.S. federal employees and contractors, according to a letter written by Wyden and sent to Bessent a day earlier. Access to the payments system was historically limited to a few staff because it contains personal information about millions of Americans who receive payments from the federal government, per the Times.
According to Wyden's letter, the payments system "simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy."
In his letter, Wyden said he was concerned that Musk's extensive business operations in China "endangers U.S. cybersecurity" and creates conflicts of interest that "make his access to these systems a national security risk."
Last year, the Biden administration blamed China for a series of intrusions targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, the theft of senior American officials' phone records during breaches of several U.S. phone and internet giants, and a breach of the Treasury's own systems late last year. Wyden, also a long-serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it was "unusual to be granting access to sensitive systems to an individual with such significant business interests in China."
Several other federal departments are under scrutiny by DOGE, including the federal government's own human resources department, known as the Office of Personnel Management.
Reuters reported on Friday that Musk's representatives locked out career civil servants from computer systems, which contain the personal data and human resources files of millions of federal employees. The OPM was hacked in 2015, which the U.S. government later attributed to China, resulting in the theft of personnel records on more than 22 million U.S. government employees, including staff with security clearances.
Hafiz Rashid
Fri, January 31, 2025
A top-ranking official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury is resigning after a fight with Elon Musk over a sensitive payment system.
The Washington Post reports that David Lebryk, who has worked in the department for decades and is its longest-serving career official, will depart soon, after conflicting with Musk’s deputies over access to the government’s payment system used to distribute trillions of dollars every year. Until Scott Bessent’s confirmation as treasury secretary on Monday, Lebryk served as acting head of the department.
Musk’s people at his “Department of Government Efficiency” have sought access to the system since the election, the Post reports, and their requests continued after Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, the Treasury’s payment systems have usually only been accessed by a small number of career officials.
The Bureau of Fiscal Service operates the systems, controlling $6 trillion of money disbursement around the country. Tens, and possibly hundreds, of millions of people rely on the systems, which distribute Social Security and Medicare benefits, federal salaries, payments to government contractors, grants, and tax refunds, as well as thousands of other things.
Lebryk joined the department in 1989 as an intern, and has worked for three decades under 11 different treasury secretaries. His departure at this time doesn’t bode well, especially since he served in the previous Trump administration and was praised by Trump’s current deputy treasury secretary, Michael Faulkender, in 2023.
“I could not, to this day, tell you his politics,” said Faulkender, who worked with Lebryk in sending out stimulus payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, an effort Lebryk led. “He always seemed to be relaxed and under control.”
It appears that Musk, while upending the lives of federal workers, is now causing chaos with the U.S. government’s money flow. If federal officials who have served for decades under different presidents, including Trump, see a need to quit, that’s not a good sign for the country.
Top Treasury official retires over DOGE request for access to payment systems
Alex Gangitano
Fri, January 31, 2025
Elon Musk’s DOGE commission gains access to sensitive Treasury payment systems: AP sources
The Associated Press
Sat, February 1, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency, run by President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies
Sean O'Kane
Fri, January 31, 2025
TECHCRUNCH
People working for, or with, Elon Musk are reportedly taking over the inner workings of multiple government agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, the Treasury Department, and the General Services Administration.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the highest-ranking career official at Treasury is leaving the department after "a clash" with people working for Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over "access to sensitive payment systems," citing three unnamed sources.
The DOGE officials have been asking for access to the system -- which controls the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to programs like Social Security and Medicare -- since after the election in November. The Trump administration has been looking for ways to stop the flow of federal money appropriated by Congress, including hastily ordering a confusing spending freeze, which experts say violates the Constitution.
Reuters also reported Friday that Musk aides have "locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees," citing two unnamed agency officials. Leaked documents obtained by Wired show Musk's staff have taken over the General Services Administration, a government agency that manages federal offices and technology.
Across the government, tech workers are being grilled and subjected to code reviews by Musk aides, Wired reported Thursday. Musk and his team also appear to have been involved in a recent government-wide email offering employees the chance to resign.
Musk's disruption of the federal government so far tracks closely to the chaotic days following his takeover of Twitter, as detailed by books like "Character Limit" and other reporting from the time.
It represents an unprecedented power grab within the U.S. government, and one that directly contradicts the original stated purpose of DOGE. When Donald Trump first announced it in November after he won the election, the idea was to set up DOGE as an entity outside the federal government that would make recommendations on where to cut spending.
That's not what happened.
After his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that renamed the U.S. Digital Service to the "U.S. DOGE service," meaning Musk is now working inside the government. He reportedly has an office in the West Wing of the White House, but is also apparently sleeping at the DOGE office, according to Wired.
This article has been updated to include a new report by Wired that Elon Musk's staff have also infiltrated the General Service Administration.
Zack Whittaker
Sat, February 1, 2025
TECH CRUNCH
Sat, February 1, 2025
TECH CRUNCH
A senior U.S. lawmaker says representatives of Elon Musk were granted "full access" to a U.S. Treasury payments system used to disperse trillions of dollars to Americans each year, and warned that Musk's access to the system poses a "national security risk."
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a post on Bluesky on Saturday that sources told his office Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk's team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, authorization to access the highly sensitive Treasury system on Friday. The authorization comes following a standoff earlier in the week, in which the Treasury's highest-ranking career official left the department following requests from Musk's team for access to the system.
“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” wrote Wyden in the post, referring to DOGE's access.
The New York Times also reported that Bessent granted DOGE access to the Treasury's payment system on Friday. One of the DOGE representatives granted access is said to be Tom Krause, the chief executive of Cloud Software Group, which owns Citrix and several other companies. Krause did not return TechCrunch's request for comment. A spokesperson for the Treasury did not comment when emailed Saturday.
This is the latest effort by Musk and his associates to take over the inner workings of the U.S. federal government following President Trump's return to office on January 20. Following his inauguration, Trump immediately ordered Musk to begin making widespread cuts to federal government spending.
The system run by the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service controls the disbursements of around $6 trillion in federal funds to American households, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, and payments to U.S. federal employees and contractors, according to a letter written by Wyden and sent to Bessent a day earlier. Access to the payments system was historically limited to a few staff because it contains personal information about millions of Americans who receive payments from the federal government, per the Times.
According to Wyden's letter, the payments system "simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy."
In his letter, Wyden said he was concerned that Musk's extensive business operations in China "endangers U.S. cybersecurity" and creates conflicts of interest that "make his access to these systems a national security risk."
Last year, the Biden administration blamed China for a series of intrusions targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, the theft of senior American officials' phone records during breaches of several U.S. phone and internet giants, and a breach of the Treasury's own systems late last year. Wyden, also a long-serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it was "unusual to be granting access to sensitive systems to an individual with such significant business interests in China."
Several other federal departments are under scrutiny by DOGE, including the federal government's own human resources department, known as the Office of Personnel Management.
Reuters reported on Friday that Musk's representatives locked out career civil servants from computer systems, which contain the personal data and human resources files of millions of federal employees. The OPM was hacked in 2015, which the U.S. government later attributed to China, resulting in the theft of personnel records on more than 22 million U.S. government employees, including staff with security clearances.
Opinion
Elon Musk Is Trying to Get Control of Key Payment System—at Any Cost
Elon Musk Is Trying to Get Control of Key Payment System—at Any Cost
Hafiz Rashid
Fri, January 31, 2025
A top-ranking official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury is resigning after a fight with Elon Musk over a sensitive payment system.
The Washington Post reports that David Lebryk, who has worked in the department for decades and is its longest-serving career official, will depart soon, after conflicting with Musk’s deputies over access to the government’s payment system used to distribute trillions of dollars every year. Until Scott Bessent’s confirmation as treasury secretary on Monday, Lebryk served as acting head of the department.
Musk’s people at his “Department of Government Efficiency” have sought access to the system since the election, the Post reports, and their requests continued after Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, the Treasury’s payment systems have usually only been accessed by a small number of career officials.
The Bureau of Fiscal Service operates the systems, controlling $6 trillion of money disbursement around the country. Tens, and possibly hundreds, of millions of people rely on the systems, which distribute Social Security and Medicare benefits, federal salaries, payments to government contractors, grants, and tax refunds, as well as thousands of other things.
Lebryk joined the department in 1989 as an intern, and has worked for three decades under 11 different treasury secretaries. His departure at this time doesn’t bode well, especially since he served in the previous Trump administration and was praised by Trump’s current deputy treasury secretary, Michael Faulkender, in 2023.
“I could not, to this day, tell you his politics,” said Faulkender, who worked with Lebryk in sending out stimulus payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, an effort Lebryk led. “He always seemed to be relaxed and under control.”
It appears that Musk, while upending the lives of federal workers, is now causing chaos with the U.S. government’s money flow. If federal officials who have served for decades under different presidents, including Trump, see a need to quit, that’s not a good sign for the country.
Top Treasury official retires over DOGE request for access to payment systems
Alex Gangitano
Fri, January 31, 2025
THE HILL
David Lebryk, a top Treasury Department nonpolitical career official, retired Friday after clashing with Elon Musk allies over government payment systems, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill on condition of anonymity.
The Washington Post first reported on Lebryk’s departure, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Upon his inauguration, President Trump had appointed Lebryk acting Treasury secretary while nominee Scott Bessent was waiting to be confirmed.
Lebryk’s retirement follows a dispute over a request from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk oversees, for access to the payment system that Treasury officials use to disburse funds.
The Post reported that a small number of career officials at Treasury have control over the systems, which are run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Lebryk was previously first commissioner of the bureau.
The systems control $6 trillion annually, distributed as Social Security, Medicare, salaries for federal workers, payments to government contractors, payments to grant recipients and tax refunds.
Lebryk served in the Treasury Department for three decades and was appointed the fiscal assistant secretary in 2014, which is the most senior career position at the agency.
The Treasury Department and DOGE did not respond to a request for comment Lebryk’s retirement.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
David Lebryk, a top Treasury Department nonpolitical career official, retired Friday after clashing with Elon Musk allies over government payment systems, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill on condition of anonymity.
The Washington Post first reported on Lebryk’s departure, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Upon his inauguration, President Trump had appointed Lebryk acting Treasury secretary while nominee Scott Bessent was waiting to be confirmed.
Lebryk’s retirement follows a dispute over a request from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk oversees, for access to the payment system that Treasury officials use to disburse funds.
The Post reported that a small number of career officials at Treasury have control over the systems, which are run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Lebryk was previously first commissioner of the bureau.
The systems control $6 trillion annually, distributed as Social Security, Medicare, salaries for federal workers, payments to government contractors, payments to grant recipients and tax refunds.
Lebryk served in the Treasury Department for three decades and was appointed the fiscal assistant secretary in 2014, which is the most senior career position at the agency.
The Treasury Department and DOGE did not respond to a request for comment Lebryk’s retirement.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Elon Musk’s DOGE commission gains access to sensitive Treasury payment systems: AP sources
The Associated Press
Sat, February 1, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency, run by President Donald Trump’s billionaire adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems, according to two people familiar with the situation.
The move by DOGE, a Trump administration task force assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs and slash federal regulations, means it could have wide leeway to access important taxpayer data, among other things.
The New York Times first reported the news of the group’s access of the massive federal payment system. The two people who spoke to The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon, on Friday sent a letter to Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing concern that “officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs.”
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” Wyden said.
Read: A body washes up on shore at Indian Harbour Beach, according to police
The news also comes after Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned from his position at Treasury after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Lebryk resigned his position after Musk and his DOGE organization requested access to sensitive Treasury data.
“The Fiscal Service performs some of the most vital functions in government,” Lebryk said in a letter to Treasury employees sent out Friday. “Our work may be unknown to most of the public, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t exceptionally important. I am grateful for having been able to work alongside some of the nation’s best and most talented operations staff.”
The letter did not mention a DOGE request to access Treasury payments.
Musk on Saturday responded to a post on his social media platform X about the departure of Lebryk: “The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”
Read: Arrest made in home invasion where victim was left severely battered inside their vehicle
He did not provide proof of this claim.
DOGE was originally headed by Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who jointly vowed to cut billions from the federal budget and usher in “mass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
Ramaswamy has since left DOGE as he mulls a run for governor of Ohio.
The New York Times first reported the news of the group’s access of the massive federal payment system. The two people who spoke to The Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon, on Friday sent a letter to Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing concern that “officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs.”
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy,” Wyden said.
Read: A body washes up on shore at Indian Harbour Beach, according to police
The news also comes after Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned from his position at Treasury after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Lebryk resigned his position after Musk and his DOGE organization requested access to sensitive Treasury data.
“The Fiscal Service performs some of the most vital functions in government,” Lebryk said in a letter to Treasury employees sent out Friday. “Our work may be unknown to most of the public, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t exceptionally important. I am grateful for having been able to work alongside some of the nation’s best and most talented operations staff.”
The letter did not mention a DOGE request to access Treasury payments.
Musk on Saturday responded to a post on his social media platform X about the departure of Lebryk: “The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”
Read: Arrest made in home invasion where victim was left severely battered inside their vehicle
He did not provide proof of this claim.
DOGE was originally headed by Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who jointly vowed to cut billions from the federal budget and usher in “mass headcount reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
Ramaswamy has since left DOGE as he mulls a run for governor of Ohio.
Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies
Sean O'Kane
Fri, January 31, 2025
TECHCRUNCH
People working for, or with, Elon Musk are reportedly taking over the inner workings of multiple government agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, the Treasury Department, and the General Services Administration.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the highest-ranking career official at Treasury is leaving the department after "a clash" with people working for Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over "access to sensitive payment systems," citing three unnamed sources.
The DOGE officials have been asking for access to the system -- which controls the flow of more than $6 trillion annually to programs like Social Security and Medicare -- since after the election in November. The Trump administration has been looking for ways to stop the flow of federal money appropriated by Congress, including hastily ordering a confusing spending freeze, which experts say violates the Constitution.
Reuters also reported Friday that Musk aides have "locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees," citing two unnamed agency officials. Leaked documents obtained by Wired show Musk's staff have taken over the General Services Administration, a government agency that manages federal offices and technology.
Across the government, tech workers are being grilled and subjected to code reviews by Musk aides, Wired reported Thursday. Musk and his team also appear to have been involved in a recent government-wide email offering employees the chance to resign.
Musk's disruption of the federal government so far tracks closely to the chaotic days following his takeover of Twitter, as detailed by books like "Character Limit" and other reporting from the time.
It represents an unprecedented power grab within the U.S. government, and one that directly contradicts the original stated purpose of DOGE. When Donald Trump first announced it in November after he won the election, the idea was to set up DOGE as an entity outside the federal government that would make recommendations on where to cut spending.
That's not what happened.
After his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order that renamed the U.S. Digital Service to the "U.S. DOGE service," meaning Musk is now working inside the government. He reportedly has an office in the West Wing of the White House, but is also apparently sleeping at the DOGE office, according to Wired.
This article has been updated to include a new report by Wired that Elon Musk's staff have also infiltrated the General Service Administration.
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